This was my 8th show and my second trip to Merriweather, my first show ever was at Merriweather 6-26-84, which was also an amazing show too! I was 5th row Bobby side and they melted my face clean off! To this day, it was one of the top 3 GD shows I ever saw!

i wish they took keep on growing around more often

The first set is top notch playing, even though there's a touch of unplanned chaos at times and Garcia's voice is in kinda bad form. The jam at the end of Shakedown is one of the finest I've heard, almost like a '71 Hard to Handle jam. Though there are parts of the second set that are not very good--including most of the much-celebrated but mightily botched Cryptical Envelopment--this is an intensely interesting show, with a very psychedelic Drums/Space. Other One is a smasher, and it's a great, great Stella instead of more tentative Cryptical...a very good choice.

Since I love this show so much I am doing my own "acid" test this evening to see which version is best. I at the endo of my own Shakedown street at OceanPoint, East Boothbay ME(after I got my head right), and doing a little experimenting. Waves crashing in, Eiders and gulls everywhere, and the crowd and band peaking together on Shakedown while the sun hits the horizon and I listen to this minty clean show streaming in. Moments like this in life are only possible because of all the hard work the kind people recording these shows went to, and the Band allowing them to do so. My verdict on best show??, who cares!! If you have not "experienced" this Shakedown, you are missing out on one of the best reasons to love the Dead I have ever heard. My mind is blown....

This entire summer '85 show is great, but the 2nd set on its own - Wow. Shakedown and Cryptical are the absolute highlights for me. The 2nd set kicks off with possibly the biggest best Phil bomb of all time. Dropped with the 2nd chord of the Shakedown intro. When dropped knocks the audio out of most audience tapes, you gotta love it! The Shakedown jam then gets to such an amazing crescendo, it must be heard to be appreciated. A face melting moment is had. The Shakedown has been posted as the best ever in many discussions, I will defintiely cast my vote for it. You may find others with better vocals but altogether with the fantastic jam, makes this one deserving of a best ever status.
The return of Cryptical during the 2nd is well received and also very well-done. Great show, awesome summer '85 tour!

Hey check out the Shakedown from http://www.archive.org/details/gd81-08-28.sbd.painoman.8670.sbeok.shnf

sure, there's some hiss, but this recording captures the evening perfectly... it's astounding what some you cats can do A->D off a cassette... i know not of the technology but i thank the lord every day for being able to live in an age where such a privilege exists... like all fine works of art, good music will live on forever.
IMO, '84 and '85 are probably the two best years, ever... 7/13/84 and 7/15/84 Greek (middle night was ok) rule it; 10/29/85 but then again i'm probably not telling anyone something they don't already know.
if you happen to be stuck in a cave somewhere with that Keith/Donna lineup playing all sluggish and that overrated Cornell '77 tape, give the aforementioned a listen; hell, listen to all of '85... the slow crap doesn't measure up (then again i grew up in the Brent era so what do i know?)...

The band was not hooking X in any way ? That is complete b/s!!!!!!!!!!!

saw this entire summer tour---ragged but right and sometimes ragged but wrong. shakedown kills. space was real weird all along the tour---rumor has always been that on 6/30 the band was hooking down ecstacy in anticipation of it becoming scheduled and controlled on 7/1/85. is this true? hershey was most fun, cayahoga had the big 12 tune first set and the post was just flat out weird.

"BOBBY....BOBBY"
i love it!

again, 20 years ago tonite i was onstage behind phils equipment looking out at the crowd and they opened the 2nd set with shakedown! hellll yeah! i remember the light bank coming down and shining out on the audience when phil hit those powerchords during the opening notes. ahhh summer 85 was a great time to be on tour yes it was. get the oade auds til the awesome cm sbd comes out. its a true 5 star recording.

I have a KILLER sbd of this show which I will upload ASAP....cm

the sound on this is slightly worse than the 22 year old cassette tape that i was hoping to replace. awesome show,one of the best shakedowns i've heard. i know there is a better sbd out there. this is a good listen if you've never heard this show,but if you're looking for an upgrade this ain't it.

Such great boards from Summer '85. Sound quality is fine. Some reviewers say the quality is terribe, don't know about that!! Both sets are hot, especially the Shakedown and the Big RxR. Summer '85 is sick, actually all of '85 is smokin.

i really don't understand how people can put up with such poor sound on some of these recordings. i'm not getting down on those who took the time to record the show, acquire the sdbd and/or upload it to the site. please remember, you are here to review THIS RECORDING, not to use five stars to tell me you had a five star experience. tell me that in your comments. i love reading about peoples' experiences at the shows, i just don't want to get my hopes up only to find out that one more time i've been mislead by someone's ideas of good sound. i had fun at every dead show i ever went to -- my idea of the best shakedown ever, for example, is 7-6-87 pittsburgh. i was there. but the recording here on the archive is utter shit.
don't get me wrong.... i this site has made me VERY happy. i've gotten maybe 15 great shows (great playing, great setlists and great sound quality) and for that i'm truly grateful.

Yeah,there are other great Shakedown's out there but this one reaches down, lifts you up, and throws you into a musical peak that only the Grateful Dead can pull off...get this whole show!

I was 16 @ the 85 Merriweather shows. Got into the pavillion w/ someone's ticket stub. Passed the stub to a friend (in my shoes) and my SHOES got confiscated!
I remember this Shakin' Shakedown. The grass was covered w/ hay, eveyone was shakin' their bones and there was a thick haze in the air from everyone goin' NUTZ on the hill. Sick stuff...
FYI-FOR ONE OF THE BEST SHAKEDOWN'S, check out Greensboro 10/9/83 (its the best I've heard). Jerry's on FIRE, doesn't flub a note, Brent's keys are FUNKY, Jer and Brent playin' off each other and the vocals are sharp as well. GREAT SHAKEDOWN...

Phil is rich in the mix, folks. Great recording.

Gents:
I understand your love for this Shakedown but if you want the BEST ever see Madsion, WI 6-24-83. The Deal will knock you silly too. Trust me, I have seen over 250 shows.

Top 3, if not THE best shakedown of all time. Jerry absolutely blazed the crowd down front with the crescendo riffs at the end of the Shakedown jam. Second set just peaking from there. Let's not forget Phil's Keep on Growin in the first set AND a Gimme Some Lovin...it was rare to get two songs from Phil singing (mainly) lead those days. Worth the downlaod.

I agree with a previous reviewer. Anyone who thinks '85 was a bad year is seriously misguided. A very good friend first saw the band at the Capital Centre in in the '70's with Keith and Donna, and '85 was one of his favorite shows. I remember Stu Nixon, later of Deadbase, wrote an article for The Golden Road about '85 being his favorite year. I believe his first show was in '69. (Does anyone miss The Gokden Rd. as much as I do?) It is hard to match '85 in consistency and intensity. Not to mention a few nice revivals. The band flat out kicked ass every night. Say what you want about Garcia at this period, his playing was there. The band was loose and having a lot of fun. They actually got off on the whole 20th anniversary thing.
I saw 24 shows that year, including this entire summer tour, which still blows me away. Merriweather were the home town shows, and we were lucky to get the end of tour blow-out's. 7/1 got more ink at the time, deservedly. But this was a gem. One of the top 5 Shakedown's ever, not debatable. The second set burned, just like every other noght on that run. We didn't get the Cryptical reprise like in Cincinatti 6/24, but still a killer Other One. (Get Cinci as well) We got another good one in Ventura 7/13. Here's to Merriweather, a truly special place to see the Dead. And '85 was a truly special experience that I will never forget.

I was drivin a Cab in Columbia Maryland when I picked up GD tour mgr Robert Taylor from the Columbia Inn on his way to Merriweather Post Pavillion. He had me drive around to the Giant Food supermarket so he could get some fruit from the salad bar. I guess he was planning an enhanced lysergic evening... Anyways, he asked me if i knew where to find a couple Sony 2002 Short Wave Recievers. I told him I could find them for him. He tipped me $20 and a couple backstage passes - one for june 30, one for July 1. I was as excited as a non-GD fan could be. I was into hard rock and stuff. I appreciated the band and JG for who they were and where they'd been. My sister saw them alot in the early and mid 70's so i was exposed early enough.. I think Wake of the Flood was the first lp i'd heard.. Anyways, I had a prior committment and told Robert I'd need the money for the recievers up Front. He gave me a long hard look, then resolved in agreement. We had an accord (world sure has changed hasn't it!).
I drove around to backstage around 6PM with my June 30 pass. Rob gave me like $550.00 in Cold Hard Cash and I told him I'd be back in about 1.5 hours. I called ahead to make sure my guy had the 2002 recievers and of course - he did. I drove to Wheaton MD and back to Merriweather in record time. I got backstage with the 2 recievers and gave Robert the change. I kinda expected him to tip me again, but i guess he thought the passes were enough of a tip. The Dead were well into the 1st set. Lord knows what song they were doing. I stayed thru most of the show. I saw all those microphones huddled around the nixing console and thought, "Man, they actually let people set up and record the shows, how deluxe!!"
It didn't take long for me to get into the show. Seeing them live made an impact on me, the kind that otherwise wouldn't have. Listening back to this now for the first time in about 20 years I remember stuff like Shakedown Street and the Space and drums very well. I was on Jerry's side and watched him for a long time. I was really impressed with his solo work on Shakedown. I'm listening now and can remember it so vividly. Of course both gigs will now be hapily seated in my collection. Thanks to Robert and the Dead, I'll never forget my short 2 week stint as a cabbie in Columbia Md. Thanks Mr Taylor.

A lot of Deadhead rag on 85 more than any other year. Especially the 70's Head's. Well those guys have never heard this show. This show is absolutely incredible. The second set smokes from cover to cover. Just unbelievable. And though the Shakedown is no doubt the best version ever, the rest of the set is just a reflection of how the boys felt this night. They played Gimme som Lovin in the middle of the second set for crying out loud. He's Gone into Cryptical. All very focused and smoking hot. I lover this show. Not too mention any show that opens with 1/2 Step, you'd better look out.

One of my favorite shows that I ever attended. Great live event - period! The Shakedown rocked - the audience couldn't calm down the entire second set - right up through the lowering of the anniversary banner at the end.

shakin on down the street,shakin to the beet. man i love this shakedown, i wont stop playing it.

It is indeed all about that Shakedown. The recording is a bit "tiny", like all the '85 summer boards we all used to have, but it is well worth picking up.

Top 3 of all time.